The present invention relates to a hygienic bed product having a pulling sheet. The hygienic bed product is shaped or designed (a) to be lenient to persons lying in bed, (b) to protect the mattress and the bed against contamination and leakage of urine, of drainage and of other liquids, and (c) to be arranged for being reused after having been machine washed and drip-dried or tumble dried.
It is natural and usual that patients lying in bed, both children and grown up people and elderly persons, give off liquids and contamination of various types. In order to prevent a person restricted to bed from feeling discomfort, and for protecting the bed and the mattress lying on the bed and the bed support, it has been usual to use some type of material which soaks up liquid and liquid type contamination, and which can be exchanged upon need. Such soaking materials can be in the form of an absorbing object of disposable type like soaking paper or any paper combination, cellulose tissue or a similar material, or it can be of reusable type, whereby, in the latter case, the absorbing object can be re-used.
A type of such a protective material having an absorbing object is shown in GB 2.202.738.
In order to make it possible to turn a person lying in bed, what has to be done frequently so as to prevent building up of pressure wounds, the patient has to be turned over sideways. This can often be a hard job, which also often can cause discomfort to the person lying in bed. For facilitating such turning over of a patient, it has been usual to use a xe2x80x9cpulling sheetxe2x80x9d placed under the patient and extending transversally to the longitudinal direction of the bed. When said pulling sheet is pulled sideways of the bed, using assisting personnel, usually also assisted by pushing personnel, the patient will roll sideways without being moved any noticeable distance in the transversal direction of the bed. In this way it is possible to turn the patient to any desired position, without exposing the patient to any noticeable discomfort, usually between a position with the patient lying on one side to lying on the back or to a position lying on the opposite patient side, or whichever other desired position.
Both the absorbing object and the pulling sheet have a relatively rough surface, and a displacement of the absorbing object and the pulling sheet may require relatively great forces. In order to reduce the work for the personnel in turning a patient in the above mentioned way, there has sometimes been used a so called xe2x80x9csliding sheetxe2x80x9d between the patient and the absorbing object and/or the pulling sheet. Such a sliding sheet can be anchored to the bed, as by having the edges of the sliding sheet folded down and under the sides of the mattress. The sliding sheet generally is made of a slippery material like rayon, a smooth plastic material, etc. Since the patient easily can slide on the sliding sheet, it may happen that the patient un-intentionally slides on said sliding sheet, and this may result in accidents. In the worst case, the patient may even slide to one side and then fall down from the bed.
The publication WO 96/06550 discloses a bed protection device comprising an absorbing object which is integral with parts of the bed sheet. The absorbing object, at the top surface thereof, has a layer of a sliding material on which the patient is supposed to be able to move him/herself to the sides and up or down the bed. The parts of the sheet extending transversally outwards are to be folded in under the mattress, thereby securing the bed protection device against the mattress.
For preventing a patient from sliding out of the bed and eventually falling down to the floor and hurting him/herself when moving on the sliding material layer, said bed protection device is formed with hems at the upper surface of the bed protection device. The hems extend in the longitudinal direction of the bed a slight distance inside the edges of the mattress and the bed, so that the patient can feel, by manually sensing the said hems by his/her hands, where on the slide material layer he/she is placed. As long as the sliding material layer is dry, said known device may operate satisfactorily and the patient can in many cases move him/herself to the sides and turn him/herself thereby making sure he/she does not slide out of the bed, by sensing the position of said hems.
When a patient is to be turned he/she has to be lifted, and a pulling sheet is placed under the patient in a position between the patient and bed protection device. The patient is thereafter turned (rotated) as the pulling sheet is pulled transversally to the bed, whereby the patient is rolled while the pulling sheet slides on the upper sliding material layer of the bed protection device. During the turning operation, the bed protection device lies fixedly anchored against the mattress. After the patient has been turned, his/her position must be corrected, and thereafter the patient once again has to be lifted so that the pulling sheet can be removed. This operation is heavy and complicated.
It is also a known fact that a wet material results in a rough surface. Therefore, when the sliding material layer of the known device becomes wet depending on leakage from the patient, the sliding property of said layer is drastically reduced and it can be difficult or impossible for the patient to turn him/herself. Further, it can be very heavy for the assisting personnel to turn the patient using a pulling sheet. In the known device moisture can penetrate both through the sliding material layer to the absorbing object and up from the absorbing object to the sliding material layer.
The object of the present invention is to solve the problem of providing a hygienic bed product which overcomes the above mentioned disadvantages in the previously known devices. The present invention thus provides an integral product comprising a combination of an absorbing object, a sliding sheet and a pulling sheet, and which integral product is formed so that the patient can not un-intentionally slide off the bed. The sliding sheet is arranged at the bottom side of the product, well protected against penetration of moisture, so that the patient can be turned (rotated) without the need of applying a sliding sheet under the patient.
The main part of the combined apparatus is an xe2x80x9cabsorbing objectxe2x80x9d of a highly soaking, inert fibrous material of a type known per se. All around, or at least at its upper surface and its lower surface, the absorbing object is covered with a soft fabric, for instance a micro fiber material which easily lets through liquid in the direction downwards/inwards but prevents a penetration of liquid out through said fabric in the opposite direction. A well operating absorbing object may have a thickness of 2-6 mm, or preferably 3-4 mm; and should have a width which substantially corresponds to the width of the bed or the mattress thereof, for instance between 70-90 cm, or a width which is as much wider than the bed so that the projecting parts can be folded in under the mattress. The hygienic product/absorbing object can have a varying extension in the longitudinal direction of the bed, depending on the size and weight of the patient, for instance between 30-120 cm of preferably between 40-70 cm.
According to the invention, the bottom surface of the absorbing object is integral both with a moisture blocking layer which prevents further transfer of moisture, and with a sliding material layer, for instance a semi-slippery or a relatively slippery micro fiber. The combination product, comprising the absorbing object with the moisture blocking layer and the sliding material layer, should be formed so that it can be secured in the transversal direction by being folded in under the mattress so that the absorbing object with the sliding material layer can not unintentionally slide in the transversal direction of the bed. The moisture blocking layer and the sliding material layer can be sewed, welded, glued or secured in any other way to the bottom surface of the absorbing object.
The risk of accidents is thereby eliminated while at the same time the personnel can still turn the patient by making the patient roll on the absorbing object, as the entire combination unit, thanks to the sliding material layer at the bottom surface of the unit, can be pulled to the desired side position of the bed. Said sliding material layer always is dry and has a maintained sliding ability. Thereafter said combination unit can be secured as those parts of the absorbing object, or a part connected to said absorbing object, are folded in under the mattress.
For providing the xe2x80x9cpulling sheetxe2x80x9d in the combined apparatus according to the invention, the combined unit, comprising an absorbing object, a moisture blocking layer and a sliding material layer, can be made so much wider than the mattress for which it is intended to be used that parts of the unit can be folded in under the mattress. Alternatively, the unit can be formed with xe2x80x9cwingsxe2x80x9d of a tearproof material, for instance a textile fabric of synthetic resin like polyester, which wings are sewed or otherwise attached to the side edges of the absorbing object. The wings are used as a pulling attachment means/pulling sheet when turning the patient and side displacement of the absorbing object with the moisture blocking layer and the sliding material layer on the mattress and/or the bed support.
It is also possible to form the absorbing object so wide that outer parts thereof can be folded in under the mattress and so that it can be used as a holding means when pulling the bed product at any side. In the latter case, the sliding material part can extend only over the part of the absorbing object which corresponds to the width of the bed; but it is, of course, also possible to provided a sliding material layer over the entire bottom surface of the absorbing object.